Tight Squeeze
by gymnast1454
Summary: Kate and Tony find themselves drugged and trapped in a small box? They can't remember how they got there. The box puts them in very very close quarters. Will they escape? As always - tension!


**Hey everybody, this is a short story that has been bugging me. I had to write it. As always-enjoy!**

Kate woke up in a very dark space; she could feel that it was a small space even though she couldn't see. Her head ached like a bad hangover. As she came to her senses, Kate tried to roll onto her back to sit up but she couldn't roll either way.

_Where the hell am I?_

Kate tried to pull her arms to her body, but they were restrained. She felt something hard circling her wrists. She gave her arms a hard yank, which confirmed her suspicions. She was handcuffed inside of a box. She tried to remember where she was last but everything was fuzzy and distant. The former Secret Service Agent laid still, trying to remember her where she was last when she realized that she wasn't lying on a flat surface. It was lumpy but solid, and moving. _Moving_. Then Kate remembered something. Gibbs had sent Tony and her to scope out a suspect.

_Tony_. The thing she was sprawled out on top of wasn't _moving_, it was _breathing_.

"Tony." No response. "_Tony_." Still nothing. Tony must have gotten a higher dose of drugs than she had. Kate shimmed forward so her mouth was right next to his ear. "_TONY_!" she hissed, but still got no response.

Kate sighed. She had to get him awake in case the people came back. She couldn't change position because the top of the box they were in was almost touching her back with her lying flat on Tony. She settled on kicking his shin, which did nothing.

_Why won't he wake up?_

Kate was sure she would regret this later, but she had to wake him up. She bent her head down and bit his shoulder hard.

"Ahhh." Tony moaned, still half asleep. She did it again, startling him out of his dazed mode. "Who are you? Where are we? What happened?" He said; yanking on his arms. He couldn't see anything but felt someone on top of him.

"Tony, shut up. Do you remember anything?"

"Kate, is that you? Ha, you know- all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to handcuff me." He joked. She could see his childish grin in her head.

"Focus Tony! I didn't do this." Kate hissed, kicking him in the shin.

"Owww." He whined. "Kate, why are you on top of me?"

"I woke up here. I think we are in a box."

"That explains a lot, but can you move back, you are breathing right in my face." Her breath was hot against his face, not that he didn't like it, but he needed to focus. Tony couldn't deal with her like that, she was already so close. He could smell the familiar smell of her shampoo but breathing in his face. He couldn't take that much.

"Yeah, sorry." She said, sliding back down him so her head rested on his chest.

"Kate!" he gasped.

"What? Are you hurt?"

"No, just don't move around a lot alright, stay put. Please." Tony begged through clenched teeth. The close proximity with Kate was not doing him any good.

"Tony! Control yourself!" Kate scowled.

"It's not my fault!"

"Why did I wake you up?"

They sat in silence for a little while. It was extremely awkward because of Tony's little awakening. Kate didn't want to move but she had to squirm every now and then. Her arms were beginning to ache and she figured Tony's were too. Before she could resume their conversation, Tony's body tensed.

"We were on a stake out!" he exclaimed, extremely proud of his memory.

"I already knew that one. Did we do anything after the stake out?"

"I don't think so; they probably took us from there."

"That's what I thought. But who is 'they.'"

"The people we were watching…" Tony said this in an of-course-it-was-them-are-you-stupid voice. Kate glared at where his head was.

A few moments later, Kate's arms couldn't take it anymore. She started jerking her arms, the manacles cutting into her wrists, but Tony's arms moved too. When Kate moved her left arm, it pulled Tony's right arm.

"Stop, the cuffs are cutting into my wrists every time you move." Tony whined.

"I think I know how they handcuffed us. Brace yourself."

Before he could ask why, Kate was squirming forward, grinding her hips against him. He inhaled sharply. Kate's face was directly on top of his again. She paused and asked him if he was alright. He gave her an "Mmhhm," nodding his head out of habit even though she couldn't see. She continued moving forward and stopped with her breasts right in his face. He couldn't see them but he knew. He was DiNozzo after all, the womanizer.

"Don't try anything or you won't live to see daylight again." Kate scolded as she felt the wall they were secured too. "Alright," she said after examining the restrains, "My left is cuffed to your right and vice versa. The chains each pass through a metal ring. The box is wooden and I think the loops are screwed into the wall."

A muffled 'great' came from Tony. She realized her boobs were still mashed against his face.

"Focus!" she barked, much like Gibbs does when Tony is goofing off.

"Kate, I'm trying, I really am but this is extremely hard for me. It isn't my fault, really, I'm sorry." Tony's voice was still muffled but she could hear how sincere he was.

"Okay. Back the problem. This left loop feels loose, I think we can pull it off."

"Yeah, sure. Just either scoot forward or backward a little, please." He begged. She complied, sliding back so they were face to face again.

"Better?"

"Given the circumstances - yes. Hold the chain so it doesn't hurt your wrist as bad and pull on the count of three." He ordered, his voice returning to normal.

"Since when are you in charge?" Kate stated blatantly.

"Senior field agent." He smirked.

"Fine, but I'm counting. 1-2-3!" They pulled hard and the wood groaned. The loop gave a little.

"Pull harder and for a longer amount of time. 1-2-3!" It was Tony's command this time. The loop pulled a little farther. Kate was pulling with all her strength. She collapsed back onto Tony, not they hadn't been touching before but she had been holding her head up. Kate's head had fallen to the left side of Tony's and they were cheek to cheek.

"Alright, one more time." Tony gasped. "1-2-3!" They pulled and the loop gave, popping off the wall.

Kate rubbed her other arm and sighed. "How do we get the other one off?"

"I don't think we can pull the other one off. Do you have a key? They took mine because my pockets feel empty."

"Ummm, yeah. I do…" Kate said, her cheeks turning red.

"That's great! Where?"

"In an inside pocket in my skirt…" Kate mumbled.

"Oh, well, do we go from the top of the bottom?"

"Tony!"

"Sorry, it's a serious question! You want to get out of here right?"

"Yeah, erm, it's on my left side, and opens to the top so it would be easiest to get from the top."

"Okay, so what do you want me to do?" Kate could tell he was grinning at her.

"Nothing Tony, just don't touch anything." Kate snapped.

Luckily, the zipper for her skirt was on the left too. Kate dragged her and Tony's hands to her hip and she fumbled with the zipper, trying to pull it down.

"Umm, Tony. Could you help me unzip my skirt?" she asked nervously. She knew she was never going to live this down.

"Caitlin! Never in a million years would I think I would be hearing this from you."

"Come on Tony, you of all people have to be an expert at undressing women." She scoffed, feeling more and more uncomfortable at how quickly Tony unzipped her skirt. Kate needed to roll slightly onto her right so she could get her hand into that little pocket on her left hip. She let her right leg slide in between Tony's legs and he gasped. She continued to wiggle around, pressing harder into Tony. He grabbed the back of her leg, right below her butt to stop her. She could feel heat radiating from his hand.

"Kate. Please grab the damn key." He hissed.

"Let go of me and I will but I need my hand!" She yanked her hand so it pulled his off her leg. She slipped it back to the pocket. "I've almost got it." She pinched the key between her index and middle fingers and dragged it out. She let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. "Got it."

She gave it to Tony and told him to unlock their other hands. It took him a while to find the locks but he un-cuffed their hands that were still restrained. He gave Kate the key so she could unlock their other hands. Once the manacles were off, they pushed them down towards their feet. She slipped the key back into her pocket and Tony automatically re-zipped her skirt. She didn't feel like arguing. All Kate wanted to do was sleep, her adrenalin had worn off. She relaxed against Tony.

"I'm really tired." She yawned.

"Kate, you can't go to sleep, we need to get out." He said, giving her shoulders a shake. "Hey, aren't you glad I'm not lying on you." He joked.

Kate didn't say anything but a tear hit his face.

"No, Kate, don't cry." He said, wrapping his arms around her and she sobbed into his chest. "We are going to get out." She nodded into his chest while he rubbed her back. He had never witnessed her being so frightened.

"Okay, so we know that we are above ground because we are still getting air, so that's good." He said, desperately trying to make her feel better. She nodded again. "Maybe we can bust out somehow, or make air holes in the wood and carve our way out. It could be like in Kill Bill when the Bride breaks out of the buried coffin!" Kate couldn't help but feel a little better. Leave it to Tony to make their current situation into a movie scene. "Come on Kate, you got to help me out here."

She took a minute to gather herself, and then replied, "We should try breaking the top off first. That would be the simplest way out."

"Okay, exactly what I was thinking. We basically read each other's minds." _Oops, I pushed it too far._ Tony could feel the glare she was giving him. It felt like pins and needles cutting into his face.

Tony put his hands to the top of the box and pushed as hard as he could. There was no give what-so-ever. He tried again, but his efforts were in vain.

"Kate, this isn't going to work, either this is bolted down or something heavy is on top, but it isn't moving."

"You aren't going to try to ninja punch your way out?" Kate scoffed. She knew this would get to Tony because she generally acted clueless about his movies. She almost convinced him that she didn't have a TV. Gibbs had walked into that conversation and given Tony a smack on the head saying, 'Don't be stupid DiNozzo.' Gibbs ruined so many pranks and lies that she told Tony.

"You have seen a movie! I knew it!"

"Seriously Tony, I don't know what you are talking about." She said in utter innocence and indifference.

"Don't worry Kate; your secret is safe with me. So, changing subject… what do we try now?"

"Since your 'manly strength' is obviously not going to rescue us. I suggest we carve out a hole on the side."

"I'm hurt Kate, that hit deep. And why carve the side?" he said in a voice that feigned emotional damage.

"You said something heavy was on top… plus I can't help if we do the top."

"Agent Todd, you are so smart. Let's get those cuffs back up here and start scraping."

Kate retrieved the cuffs by using her feet, and to Tony's dismay, moving a lot.

_At any other time this would be great._

She gave Tony one set and began to scrape at the right wall. Tony awkwardly joined her, having to use mostly his left hand. Eventually they got a rhythm going. After 20 minutes, both agents were sweating and out of breath.

"Is there any saw dust?"

"Yeah," said Kate, reaching down to feel the ground. "There is quite a bit. Maybe if we made a hole first, it would be easier to weaken."

"We could use those loops; their ends are the same as screws." Tony fished out the loops that were by his head and handed one to Kate. They started out trying to poke a hole, but only made little dents. Then they tried screwing the loop into the wall, which made a hole. They took turns drilling into it. 45 minutes later, Tony pushed it all the way through. He pulled it out and bright sunlight came in through the hole.

"Nice job Tony!" squealed Kate.

The wood was a little over an inch thick. Luckily, a slight breeze came in through the tiny hole, cooling them off.

"What now?" asked Tony.

"Scrape at the hole and make it bigger." Kate obtained a cuff and began to scrape and bang around the hole, as chips of wood began to fall all over them. Tony joined her and the hole slowly grew and the wall weekend and splintered more with each blow. At first you could only get a finger through it, then a hand. After two hours of continuous pounding, Kate could stick her head out. They seemed to being in a junkyard. There were rusty cars all around and tires were piled on top of the box. The agents continued to pound the side so it was big enough for Kate to awkwardly slide out. By now, Tony was so relieved that they were escaping that he didn't even joke with Kate as she tried to shimmy out the hole.

"Where are we? Tony called.

Kate squinted, her eyes trying to adjust to the blinding light. "I think is a junk yard, there are rusted cars everywhere. Just stay put, I have a better idea to get you out."

She started pushing the junk off the top of the box. The lid had been nailed down. Kate searched for something that would work to pry open the box. A few feet away, a crowbar was lodged into the windshield of a car. She jogged over to it and carefully extracted it from the glass chards but still cut her arm. She wouldn't have noticed it because of the adrenaline but she just happened to see blood on her blouse. She ignored it, they had to get away in case the people who did this to them came back. Tony and Kate were far too weak to fight anyone.

"I'm going to try and pry the lid off." She told Tony. She didn't wait for a response but started wedging the tool in between the top and sides, breaking the nails. She did it all the way around and was able to pop the top off.

"Hey Tony, quit lying around." She joked, giving him a hand to help him up.

"I can't see. It's blinding." He whined. "Woah, how did you cup your arm?"

"Getting the crowbar."

She looked down as her arm and it was covered in blood.

"Kate, that's a bad cut. Sit down; we need to fix that so you stop bleeding." He tried to get her to sit on a tire.

"No! We have to get out of here."

"Kate! Sit now." He ordered. She did because she was beginning to feel faint. Then Tony pulled off his T-shirt and ripped it into strips to bandage her arm with. Luckily for Kate, he had a wife beater tank on.

_What am I thinking?_

Tony squatted next to Kate and gently wrapped her trembling arm. "Better?"

"Yeah, can we go now?" She said, standing to go.

"Yup. We should head towards a road. Let's go this way." He said, spinning in a circle until deciding on a seemingly random direction.

"Why?" asked Kate skeptically? "Your gut feeling?"

Tony pointed to a sign pointing the same direction he was that said 'EXIT.' He smirked are her and started walking. She jogged to catch up and they walked out of the junk yard. No one said anything to them even though they looked extremely suspicious. Kate had blood on her blouse; their clothes were sweaty and dirty. If there was a reason to call the cops, it would have been because of them.

"Tony, there's a payphone outside of the gas station." Kate whispered. She felt like they should whisper because the kidnappers might hear them.

"Alright. But we'll need money." He said, crossing the empty street. "We must be in a small town, there is no one around."

"Don't worry, I've got it covered." She said as she began to straighten her clothes and fix her hair. Then she pulled her blouse down to reveal some more cleavage. Tony's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

_This is going to be good_, he though as she walked ahead of him to meet a burly looking man.

"Hey." She said, giving him a sexy smile.

"Hi." Said the surprised man, checking out her body. His glance stayed a little too long on her cleavage and Tony immediately felt jealous.

_Why am I jealous?_

"My car broke down back there because my stupid husband is too cheap to buy a new one. Could I borrow some change to make a phone call please?" Kate looked so innocent and small talking to this man. Tony thought she was a different person. The Kate he knew could take you down with a look, this woman could be crushed like an ant.

"You could use my phone." He offered.

_What a pig,_ thought Kate.

"My husband wouldn't like that, it would be better for all of us if you just give me some money." She said, more sternly, surprising the man.

"Alright." He said defensively as he pulled some coins out of his pocket. "Here you are Miss."

"Thank you so much." Kate squealed in a very unlike Kate way. She hurried to the phone and put the money in and dialed NCIS. Once the man left, Tony joined her. His face held a look of surprise and amusement. He especially liked her more exposed chest.

"What?" He continued to grin at him. Then she gasped and smacked him in the head, pulling her shirt back up. "Men…"

"Hello? Hellooo?" said McGee. Kate jumped, forgetting it was on.

"McGee! It's Kate and Tony." Tim sat up and looked at his boss, who was not happy at all.

"Where have you been? Boss is going to kill you guys." Turning away from the phone he told Gibbs. He immediately jumped up from his desk and stood behind Tim.

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"Well we have been locked in a box in a junkyard. Please tell him that we aren't skipping, but were drugged and kidnapped." She said sternly.

"Oh my God. Let me trace your call, I assume you don't know where you are." He said. They could hear him typing furiously.

Kate turned her head to tell Tony, but he was right there listening for himself. She froze, staring straight into his eyes, inches from his face. "Erm," she mumbled, looking away awkwardly. She could tell Tony felt uncomfortable too which made her feel better.

Gibbs interrupted, "DiNozzo, Todd. We have your location, stay there. Be there in 25 minutes."

Before they could say anything, they got a dial tone. Typical Gibbs.

Kate hung up the phone and turned to Tony, he had stepped back so it wasn't another 'moment.'

"That was one hell of a night." She said, smiling at Tony.

"Yes, Kate, they always are when you spend them with me." He said, grinning at her.

"Tony." She warned. Her smile quickly changing to a thin line as she glared at him.

**Do you like? Tension! Review please... I like knowing what my readers think.**


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